What Does CAP Mean to You?

by Cedric Ching CC/ALB, D84 CAP Chair 2011-2012

Cedric Ching CC

One of the goals of District 84's Club Ambassador Program is for our members to discover what Toastmasters means to other people. As this year's CAP Chair, I've had the opportunity to discover what this program means to our members. There have been Toastmasters for whom the basic premise of visiting three other clubs has been the goal.

Take Susan Schulz of Toast-Stars Club #9269: she told me that she had wanted to become a club ambassador since the program's inceptions and how, for the past couple years, she had managed to complete only two of the three required visits. This year, she made becoming an ambassador a priority, and within a single week in September – husband Werner in tow – she made her three visits and became an official D84 Club Ambassador. Soon afterwards, Werner, a frequent guest of Susan at meetings, became a Toastmaster himself. The two continued visiting local clubs, and Werner was also able to become a club ambassador.

There have also been Toastmasters who have set other goals for themselves. You've heard about “drinking around the world” at Epcot, but…

• Pete Cabaniss of the Merritt Moonliters Club #1387 set a goal of visiting each of the 26 clubs in Division B, and in just over three months, he did just that. And he used the ambassador program as an opportunity to personally invite local Toastmasters to visit his home club.
• George Kostopoulos of the Oviedo Toastmasters #3179 had turned in a comparable number of CAP forms when he decided that he was going to try to visit a club in each of District 84's nine divisions. He told me that he really enjoys the variety of venues (he submitted a picture of the random ceiling door at the Night Talkers Club's meeting room) and the camaraderie he's experienced with all the Toastmasters he's met. George has only three more division to go.
• I've learned that the Club Ambassador Program really is whatever our members want it to be. It's an opportunity to earn a special pin and certificate, it can be a way to promote your own club, and it can be a way to have new experiences and make new friends.

So I have to ask: what does the Club Ambassador Program mean to you?